There’s apparently market demand for a better, more efficient coffee lid.
Vaporpath, a Seattle-area company that manufactures the Viora Lid, has raised another $250,000 to help fuel production of its innovative coffee lids.
The startup, based in Bainbridge Island, Wash. and led by former Microsoft director Barry Goffe, has now raised nearly $1 million from backers like Seattle angel investor Geoff Entress and tech vet Rick Hennessey.
Goffe said that “business is going incredibly well” and interest for the lids has been higher than expected. The fresh cash will be used to accelerate the company’s plans for growth, which include international expansion and hiring more employees.
The Viora Lid, invented by Vaporpath founder Doug Fleming, differs from a traditional plastic cup lid in a variety of ways. It is designed to mimic sipping coffee or tea out of a ceramic cup by bringing a drinkable amount of liquid into the well on top of the lid, rather than requiring the user to pull liquid out of a small hole. It also eliminate splashes and gives the user a more intense aroma of their drink.
Goffe said that there is great interest in the lids from “third wave” coffee establishments, which treat coffee as an artisanal food like wine. Prominent coffee shops from San Diego to New York are using the Viora Lid. Goffe was especially proud of the fact that Los Angeles-based shops G&B Coffee and Go Get Em Tiger are using the lids.
“These two shops are on many pundits’ lists of the top 10 coffee shops in North America,” Goffe said.
The company is also seeing traction with not just cafes, but also distributors, and just recently signed its first agreement with an international distributor. There is also high demand from customers overseas.
“When we launched, we assumed that we would establish ourselves in the market first and then, in year two or three, we’d start to have discussions with the larger players in the to-go coffee world,” Goffe said. “Amazingly, we’ve been engaged in a number of discussions with these big players over the past few months, and all of these strategic discussions are ongoing.”
Now the challenge is to figure out how to get the Viora lid to as many people as possible.
“When people try it — whether they are from a high-end artisanal coffee shop or from a global quick-serve restaurant — they realize how much a lid matters and that for the smallest incremental difference in cost, they can offer something that dramatically improves the end customer experience,” Goffe said. “It really is an exciting time for our business.”
Previously on GeekWire: This plastic coffee lid is like drinking from a regular cup
